The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of an injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.
(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this big rig accident lawsuit and its proceedings.)
Defendants contested the wrongful death claim as to the parents, and the jury ultimately determined that they were not financially dependent and rejected their wrongful death claim. On the wrongful death claim for the family members, there was a claim for loss of support and loss of household services based upon the industrious nature of decedent. Additionally, there was a claim for loss of financial support in terms of loss of medical insurance benefits. The claim for economic damages was approximately $3 million. Defendants contested the nature and extent of the economic losses, and, through their expert, claimed that the economic losses, once the present cash value analysis by their expert was applied, would result in economic losses of about $1.2 million.
CLAIMED DAMAGES
According to Plaintiff: $3 million economic damages.
SETTLEMENT DISCUSSIONS
According to Plaintiff: The matter went through multiple mediations and settlement conferences. Defendant ABC Group, which was insured by XYZ, refused to acknowledge that it had a higher percentage of responsibility than defendant ABC Produce. This insurer insisted on a 50/50 split on any type of allocation, and, therefore, offers being made to plaintiffs. All defendants contested the wrongful death claim of the parents. Plaintiffs filed a statutory demand on the wrongful death case in the amount of $9.9 million as to ABC Group in response to the settlement position taken by defendants. The last settlement offer made by ABC Produce was $750,000. The initial offer made by ABC Group was $1 million and ultimately was increased to $2 million, but that was the last offer ever made by ABC Group. As a result, the statutory demand was made. As to plaintiff Barron Yemming, defendants made a combined offer of $125,000. In response to that, da statutory demand was made as to ABC Group in the amount of $250,000 and as to ABC Produce for $125,000. Both statutory demands were exceeded.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
SUMMARY:
Verdict/Judgment: Plaintiff
Verdict/Judgment Amount: $7,284,000
Wrongful death: $2,370,000 economic, $4,400,000 non-economic; Emotional distress: $14,000 economic, $500,000 non-economic. The jury determined Carreon/ABC to be 75 percent responsible and Merryweather/ABC to be 25 percent responsible.
Trial Type: Jury
Trial Length: 16 days.
Deliberations: 2 days.
Jury Poll: Mixed poll.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.